1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to precision optical mounts that carry and reliably position an optical element (e.g. a mirror or a prism), so that a plurality of such optical mounts can be arranged in a compact and optically efficient system wherein space consumption is minimized without introducing distortion.
2. Background Art
Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, optical mounts 1 are known which include a generally solid, rectangular back plate 2 and a face plate 4. The back and face plates 2 and 4 are coupled in spaced facing alignment with one another. The face plate 4 carries an optical element 6 (e.g. a mirror) and is adapted to be moved by means of rotatable knobs 8 having threaded shafts 10 that extend through the back plate 2 to be advanced into contact with face plate 4 and thereby impart a tilting or translational movement to the face plate so that the position of the optical element 6 may be correspondingly changed relative to an incident beam of optical energy.
As a consequence of the solid, rectangular configuration of the face plate 4, two or more of the optical mounts 1 must be spaced from one another by a relatively large distance. Moreover, a relatively wide angle .alpha..sub.1 is introduced to the reflected beam that is transmitted between the optical element 6 of the opposing optical mounts 1. The aforementioned large distance d.sub.1 and the large angle of reflection .alpha..sub.1 is caused by the necessity of having to separate the optical mounts 1 and adjust the position of the optical elements 6 to ensure that the reflected optical energy will not be intercepted and blocked by the rectangular face plate 4. As a result of the foregoing, the space consumed by a plurality of the optical mounts 1 is undesirably large making the optical system inefficient for use in applications where only a small space is available.